WREXHAM stalwart Danny Williams is prepared to play through the pain barrier in Saturday’s make-or-break clash with Boston United at the Racecourse.

The 27-year-old veteran of more than 150 games for the Dragons is nursing a back strain and has not yet trained this week, but he is determined to take his place in the starting line-up.

“My back has stiffened up following the game at Walsall last weekend,” he said yesterday. “That’s probably down to the fact that we also played at Shrewsbury in the week and there was less recovery time for me before the next game.

“It hasn’t been a problem when we are only playing on a Saturday, so I’ve been resting it so far and I will definitely be training on Thursday and Friday.”

Williams has turned a blind eye to media reports that crisis club Boston have been forced to cancel early week training sessions because their players – who have not been paid for more than two months – cannot afford to travel in.

And he is sceptical about the extent of injury problems at York Street after Pilgrim’s assistant manager Paul Raynor claimed that only eight senior professionals would be on duty on Saturday.

“I don’t believe much of what I’m hearing,” he added. “It seems to me that Boston are trying to portray themselves as underdogs, but it doesn’t cut any ice with us here at Wrexham.

“If they think we are going to feel sorry for them, they can think again because the only thing on our minds is going out and winning the game.

“There will be a big crowd at the Racecourse on Saturday and I’m sure it will be a bit edgy, but at the end of the day it’s a game of football.

“We need to get a point to stay up, but if we go into the game with that attitude we might become too defensively-minded, so we will be looking to play as we have in the past four matches, which have been pretty good performances.

“We have certainly tightened up at the back in recent weeks, an improvement that was long overdue, and another clean sheet will see us through.

“I don’t think anyone is under any illusions about what is at stake, but I’m equally sure that the best team on the day will win the game.”

And manager Brian Carey, who stepped up from a Racecourse coaching role in January to replace axed boss Denis Smith, accepts that his performance since then will be judged solely on the outcome of Saturday’s showdown.

“I’ve tried to remain positive from day one because I firmly believe we are good enough to stay in the league,” he said. “But it boils down to the fact that we have to do our talking on the pitch, which is the case again on Saturday.

“It’s been a massive learning curve for me but I don’t feel any more qualified to be a manager even though it’s been a crash course and I’ve learned more from it than I could have imagined.

“Even so, I’ve probably only scratched the surface, experiencing both good times and bad, but the bottom line is that it is a results business.

“I will be judged on one game and that’s the way it should be. Whether that is fair or not does not come into it because the hard fact is that it’s results that count.”